Numerous industries utilize liquid chemicals and are faced with the problem of being able to analyze the chemicals they have on hand, or are using in a process, to ensure that they have not become contaminated or otherwise unsuitable for use. Such chemicals may be, for example, water, organic liquids, acids, bases or ammonia. There is, for example, a very serious problem in the semiconductor processing industry wherein small amounts of impurities in ultra pure water being utilized to, for example, process silicon wafers, can lead to the production of unsatisfactory product which cannot be sold. The purity of water in nuclear reactor cooling systems must also be regularly and accurately determined, thus requiring non-contaminating sampling. Further, environmental concerns require that waste liquids be analyzed prior to disposal.
In the past, such samples as have been discussed above have been removed in a number of ways. For example, they have been removed by utilizing taps from which some of the liquid can be run off into sample bottles, by utilizing pipettes, by pouring and by ladling. One problem with these methods is that contamination can occur during the sampling procedure. Another serious problem with these methods is that of assuring that the sample taken is truly representative of the liquid being sampled. For example, if one utilizes a tap, then the sample is that which is adjacent the tap and not necessarily representative of the bulk composition of the liquid. The same can happen if one pours a sample out of the liquid into a sample bottle. If one utilizes a ladle, there is an open sample being transferred which can be contaminated during the transfer process. A pipette, if properly cleaned, does not have these problems, but there is still the extra required step of transferring from the pipette into a sample bottle which is then sent off to a laboratory for analysis. Thus, there is an extra step during which contamination can occur.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.